And Then Harry Woke Up in the Cupboard Under the Stairs
by timeturner82
Summary: A while ago, I saw a meme that said something like, "How messed up would it be if 'Deathly Hallows' had ended with 'And then, Harry woke up in the cupboard under the stairs.'" And that got me thinking - Yeah! How would that go? So, I wrote it, and I hope you enjoy! It may be different than what you expect.
1. Chapter 1

And then Harry woke up in the cupboard under the stairs…

He groaned, and looked up at the ceiling, still groggy. What a bizarre dream! How long had he been out? Harry heard footsteps rushing up above him, and suddenly the door to the cupboard flew open.

"Harry! Oh, thank goodness, there you are! I've been worried sick!"

"Sorry mum, I guess I fell asleep. I had the strangest dream-"

"Well, what were you doing in the cupboard anyway?"

"Ron, Fred and George and I were playing hide and seek, but I guess they didn't find me."

"Well, get up now," said Lily, Harry's mother, "It's _your_ birthday dinner; you can't be late. The guests will be arriving any minute. The Weasleys all went out in the garden, you can join them. I'm so glad Molly and Arthur agreed to help set up. And you godfather will be arriving soon. Heavens knows what sort of dangerous present he's bringing this year." As Harry followed his mother through their house in Godric's Hollow out to the garden, he felt sort of odd. His dream had felt so real. Harry wondered how could he have ever imagined a life without his parents.

In the garden, there was a table laden with food, and a family of redheads milling about. There was a knock at the gate, and Harry turned and saw a smiling man with long black hair.

"Sirius!" Harry called, and ran to meet his godfather.

"Hello! How's my godson doing? Hogwarts letter come yet?"

"They don't come for a few more weeks," said Lily, "Don't cause a panic."

"Hey, Harry!" said Sirius, "I've got a present for you." Sirius reached down and lifted up a suspiciously broom-shaped package above the gate.

"No fair!" said a man with messy black hair and glasses as he entered the garden from the house, "That's what I was gonna get him, Padfoot! You can't steal a man's present to his own son!"

"I thought first years weren't allowed brooms," said Lily with her hand on her forehead.

"They aren't," said Sirius, "But I figured they might make an exception for this one since he's such a natural like his old man!" Sirius entered the garden, then turned to Harry's mother. "Oh, Regulus sends his regards, Lily. He wishes he could come, but important Department of Mysteries business and all that."

"Well, one of you has to be the sensible one," said Lily rolling her eyes.

"Imagine that," Sirius chuckled, "Just eleven years ago you're dueling someone with bitter hatred, then all they have to do is hand over information that leads to the downfall of a dark lord, and suddenly they're a coworker you invite to your son's birthday party and call sensible. What a turnaround, Lily. Well, don't forget it was aurors like me that did the dirty work back then. Bloody horcruxes, nearly impossible to destroy. While you two were living it up in hiding, probably having lots and lots of s-"

"Ok, Sirius!" said Lily. "Why don't you go enjoy the punch?"

"Don't mind if I do," said Sirius. "But remember James, you owe me, your most amazing friend and secret keeper for that extended honeymoon. All those lonely nights with Lily after the baby went to sleep..."

"Sirius! Punch!" said Lily, and walked him over to the food table.

There was a popping noise, and a man in a brown suit appeared, holding a wrapped box. "Hello, James! I'm not late, am I?"

"No, no not at all, Moony! How's our favorite History of Magic professor?"

"Well, it's about to be Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Remus. "Quirrel's research on vampires in Romania got him a post at Beaubatons, so I'll be taking over."

"Wonderful!" said James. "Dream job, am I right? Teaching little kids to blast each other across the room. Reminds me of the good old days! But I bet a certain Potions Master isn't too happy about that."

"Snape?" said Remus, "Oh, he's fine. He's been a lot better ever since, well, have you heard?" Remus lowered his voice, "Snape's gonna be a dad!"

"What?" said James. "No way!" Harry saw his mother across the yard freeze what she was doing, listening.

"Yeah," said Remus, "You remember that girl he married a few years ago, Rosemary or something, was a few years below us in school, well anyway, she's pregnant! They're expecting a boy."

"Well, good for him," said James. Harry saw is mother smile.

"Harry!" A voice called out, "Come on! We're about to start exploding snap!" Harry turned to see his best friend Ron waving him over. Harry started to walk towards him, when there was another apparition 'pop' behind him. Harry turned around instinctively, and felt a chill when he saw who it was.

"Peter!" said Lily, as she made her way to greet him. "Glad you could come!"

"Always glad to be invited," said the smiling man as he shook Lily's hand. Harry couldn't help but feel disturbed after the dream he'd just had. Jolly, friendly Peter, always ready with a handshake and free samples from his popular café in Diagon Alley, had been so… so… different. And it had all felt so real. Harry touched his hand to his forehead just to be sure there was no lighting scar.

Guests continued arriving: the Tonks' and their cool daughter, an older girl who used to babysit Harry, Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom and their son, Neville, who Harry was pretty good friends with, and Hagrid, who brought Fang with him for a "pettin' zoo". Kingsley Shacklebolt, head of the Auror Department stopped by with Mad-Eye Moody to say hi, some friends of Lily's arrived, and the annual store-bought card signed by all three Dursleys arrived by muggle post. Soon the yard was full of wizards and witches, some of which Harry didn't even know. But he didn't care. He was just so happy.

When the time came for birthday cake, Harry looked into the loving eyes of all the faces around him, his parents, their friends, his friends. Then, he closed his eyes and blew out the all eleven candles in one breath. Everyone applauded, then got busy cutting and handing out cake.

"So, Harry, what'd you wish for?" asked Ron.

"Nothing," said Harry with a smile as he watched them. "I don't need anything at all."

"What?" said Ron. "You should've at least wished to be in Gryffindor house. You and me are going to be together there, right?"

"Right," said Harry. He supposed he could have added a wish: that he would meet a girl named Hermione on the train, and a hundred other people in the years to come, and they could all live safe and happy lives because maybe, maybe if only a few things had been different, their world would be a much more difficult place.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Thanks for reading! Please leave a review, if you have the time. I know that was a lot of information cramming, but I wanted to get it all in a short epilogue! If you have any questions or requests about this alternate universe (because that's what I see it as, not an actual alternate epilogue), let me know because I came up with a lot more information than is included here, so I could write this. It was just really fun to do! So if you want more information about the events in this story (i.e. people's jobs, how the first and only wizarding war was resolved, how did Snape meet his wife, etc.) or want more fics from this universe, please let me know because I'd be glad to do them!


	2. Chapter 2 - Regulus' Story

**Author's Note:** Well, this story's back by popular demand! So here's how I think this is going to work: there'll be several backstory chapters about all the characters and things that changed before the first chapter, then we'll go through Harry's years at Hogwarts. Sound like fun? Be sure to let me know any characters you want detailed or questions you want answered!

* * *

July, 1979

* * *

"Expulso!"

"Incendio!"

Regulus ducked as a stream of fire shot by his ear. He breathed out heavily, sweating under his death eater mask. He regained his balance, and fired another spell at the red-haired woman he was fighting. "Stupefy!"

"Protego!" she shouted, and a strong glow of white-blue light bounced the spell off towards the ceiling.

Regulus fired back, silently this time. His spells pounded away at her shield, but it held. He took a breath, and the woman took her chance. Regulus couldn't hear what she said, but suddenly long vines shot out from her wand towards his feet. They wrapped around his ankles and he stumbled, but he quickly set them on fire, and they shriveled up. He prepared to fire at her again, but he was distracted by a bright flash of purple light to his right, as a black-clad figure flew into his side. Regulus skidded and caught himself, then turned to see another mask in his face.

"Oi! Reg!" said the masked man, who had been knocked back by a spell. "Little help?!" Regulus recognized the voice belonged to Rudulphus Lestrange.

Regulus turned to see the red-haired woman ignoring him, going to the aid of a black haired man with glasses, who was dueling Rudolphus' wife. "Sure thing," he said, and ran after Rudolphus towards the two aurors he was fighting, a man and woman, both with brown hair.

Spells flew across the room. There were shouts and screams as curses were cast at both sides. Regulus found himself fighting the woman. She looked a bit older than himself, probably, in her mid-twenties. The two sides were pretty evenly matched, although the man seemed to be getting the upper hand against Rudolphus. Suddenly, everyone was distracted by the huge flash of an explosion near the center of the room. Judging by the way he was grinning and running away from it, the young black haired man with glasses had set it off. Regulus recognized him, now that he had a chance to think, as James Potter, just a year older than him in Hogwarts, one of his brother's Gryffindor friends.

But Regulus had only a moment to think; the battle resumed, and both sides called in reinforcements, death eaters and members of the Order of the Phoenix apparated into the abandoned muggle building where the fight was going down. It took all of Regulus' strength to keep his concentration on his opponent with the chaos of lights and noise around him, when suddenly, over her shoulder, he saw a face that made his blood run cold. There was no doubt about it, a distinct nose, long black hair, and piercing eyes looking right at him. It took Regulus a moment to realize that he was wearing a mask, so surely his brother didn't recognize him. Regulus' thoughts were lost when a force sent him flying backwards through the air.

He landed on his back, and struggled to catch his breath. Luckily it had just been a stunning spell; the witch had tried some much nastier spells earlier, but she probably hadn't been expecting Regulus to let down his guard in the middle of a duel, and didn't want to waste a more powerful spell that would just be deflected.

Regulus carefully rose to his feet and looked around him. No one was attacking him; he had been knocked to the back of the field of fighting. He saw the woman auror he had been fighting wasn't coming after him, but had joined the male auror in fending off Rudolphus. For the first time since it began, Regulus was able to really observe the battle, for that's what it had become. What had started off as a fight between a small group of death eaters and a small group of aurors, who may have run into each other accidentally or on purpose, which had moved into an old muggle warehouse with peeling paint, high ceilings, and flickering green lights, had become a full-fledged battle. Everywhere he looked he saw the chaotic fighting, spells flying, and more than one body lying on the ground.

Regulus shuddered. When he had joined the death eaters two years ago, he had still been in school. He hadn't done any of the up close, dirty work, only behind the scenes stuff, recruiting mostly, some work at decoding messages, he had been so proud of that one, but now, now that he was out of school he had been placed on increasingly more dangerous missions. After graduation he had been paired with his older cousin Bellatrix, her husband, and his brother, something about the importance of family ties, but their team was often assigned the most violent missions, Bella and company were comfortable with that sort of thing, and they were expected to be training Regulus, although he also suspected he might be there as a human shield for his more important cohorts. Mostly he stood in the back, or was a lookout, listening to the screams, he cringed as he thought about it, unless there was a really big fight, like this one. Regulus stayed where he was, not certain he was ready to re-enter the fray.

Just then, there was a large swirling of black smoke on the death eaters' side. Regulus watched from the back as figure appeared in the smoke. They were wearing a black cloak, and their face was covered by a hood, but Regulus didn't need to see his face to know who it was: The Dark Lord.

The atmosphere was different now, colder, more fearful, and it wasn't just the order of the phoenix members who were afraid. Regulus supposed he should rejoin the fight. He couldn't be seen cowering in the back by Voldemort himself. He ran forward yelling, as the fight heated back up. He found himself dueling a woman with curly dark hair who had arrived with the reinforcements. They were fairly evenly matched, but Regulus felt confident in his abilities dueling her. He sneaked a glace over at the Dark Lord, and saw that he was being fought by the red-haired woman Regulus had been dueling originally and James Potter. The two came at him together, but the Dark Lord stood in place, fending them off easily, and firing his own curses at them. The couple wasn't giving up easily, though. Regulus returned to concentrating on his own duel, but moments later he looked again and saw the brown haired aurors from before had joined in the fight against Voldemort, giving James and the redhead a chance to relax a little. They were holding their own for now, but Regulus doubted the four could withstand him for long.

Regulus turned back to the woman he was dueling, all his attention on her. He fired spell after spell, putting her on the defensive. Her short hair bounced as she shielded the spells and backed up. The next step she took, however, was onto uneven flooring. She slipped, and Regulus took the chance to stun her. The woman looked surprised, then fell backwards. She hit her head on the floor, and appeared to be unconscious. Regulus panicked, not sure what to do next. Fortunately, he didn't need to think about it, because the decision was made for him.

"Marlene!" a voice shouted, and a man, running so fast he nearly skidded in, took her place. Regulus froze. Sirius stood in front of him, and he didn't look very forgiving. Sirius cast a spell and Regulus deflected it. He took a step back. Sirius attacked him again, and Regulus defended himself. He wasn't sure he could actually fight his brother, and besides, Sirius was serious, and he wasn't giving Regulus any chance to hit him back. Luckily, he didn't need to, because just then, it seemed like everyone paused a moment to look at something in the center of the room. Even Sirius' determination faltered when he noticed, and glanced in the direction of everyone's attention. Albus Dumbledore had apparated into the room without a sound, and was standing directly across from Lord Voldemort.

"So, Dumbledore," the Dark Lord said, "Here to fight your people's battles for them?"

Dumbedore shrugged, "I don't know, is that what you're doing Voldemort?"

Regulus could not see Voldemort's face clearly, but he knew it was one of disgust and anger. He could see Rudolphus restraining Bellatrix behind him. The two wizards exchanged a long, silent look, and it seemed like the whole room held its breath. Then, they started dueling. Regulus was sure the fight was epic, but he couldn't watch it because, with a shout, everyone started fighting again. Sirius nearly blasted him across the room, and this time Regulus didn't hesitate, fighting him as he made his way back. Spells flew all around the room until, with one last snarl, Voldemort disapparated. Death eaters followed, and Regulus followed their cue. He aimed one final spell at Sirius before he disappeared.

* * *

Regulus gasped as he apparated and nearly fell flat on his face. He was breathing heavily, and jogged over to the wall of a building he could lean on, and pulled off his death eater mask and cloak. He had only apparated a few blocks away from where the fight had happened. He wasn't ready to go back to Grimmauld Place yet. He needed, he needed some time to think.

Regulus wrapped his cloak around his mask and tucked it under his arm, then started wandering down the street.

"Hey!" a voice said. Regulus turned around, wand drawn, but quickly slipped it up his shirt sleeve when he saw that it was a muggle. "Hey," the muggle said again, "Are you alright? Do you need a doctor?"

"What?" Regulus said.

"You're limping," the girl said, coming closer. "Oh gosh," she said as she saw Regulus clearly, "It looks like you came off the worst in a fight."

"Is it that obvious?" Regulus asked, and turned to continue walking.

"Wait," she said, catching up, "Do you need some help? Should I call the police?"

"No!" Regulus said. "Ah, I mean, no," he said more calmly, "It was, uh, family business."

"Oh. Okay," the girl said. Regulus got a better look at her, now that she was closer; she was short, and looked to be near his age, but a little bit older. She had short brown hair in large curls, and wore a dark blue jacket.

"Do you have a place to go?" she asked.

"Yeah," Regulus said. "Yeah I'm okay."

"Okay," the girl said. She turned to go, and Regulus did too. Then he turned back.

"Wait," he said. The girl turned back. "Is there someplace to get something to eat around here?"

The girl smiled.

* * *

"So what is this called again?"

The girl laughed. "It's just chips."

"Well they're delicious," Regulus laughed.

"You can't really have not had chips before."

Regulus shook his head.

"What, were your family some sort of health nuts or something?"

"You could say that." Regulus shrugged and nodded, and the two burst into fits of giggles again. The girl smiled sweetly, and Regulus smiled back. He had enjoyed talking to her, even if half the time he didn't know what she was saying. The two sat across from each other at a booth in the back of a warmly lit restaurant open late at night. So far Regulus had learned that her name was Annaliese, she was twenty years old, and she was studying to be a doctor at a muggle university. Regulus was sure he was asking too many questions about muggle things, but he didn't care. He had learned more about muggles in this hour than any other time in his life. And Annaliese, she was so kind and clever. She had offered to help heal his wounds. Regulus hadn't understood how she intended to that without magic, and although he declined her offer, she had answered all of his questions about muggle medical treatment. He didn't even know muggles could do things like that. In fact, Regulus realized, he had never talked to a muggle before. He had just sort of thought of them as mystical beings from another world who didn't really exist, well, he knew they existed, but it was like they didn't. They didn't matter.

Regulus looked back at Annaliese, who was eating one of the chips from their basket, then looked up at the lamp suspended above them. The electric light which came from it, which had always felt cold and unnatural to Regulus, now seemed warm and inviting.

* * *

Regulus apparated to the doorstep of number 12 Grimmauld Place, and silently opened the door as he had practiced. He could hear Bellatrix and Rudolphus shouting in the kitchen, obviously still angry about how the battle had turned out. He heard Rudolphus say things like "Filthy blood-traitor Longbottoms nearly broke my arm, one day I'll kill 'em; I swear!" and Bellatrix say things like, "-the audacity to call the Dark Lord by his name! Stand right in front of him and –" They had probably been angrily repeating the same things for hours; they tended to do that. Bellatrix and Rudolphus were the type of people who liked to be angry. Regulus knew what that was like, his mother was that sort of person too. She and his father were probably in their room sleeping, or at least trying to sleep. Regulus sneaked up the stairs, keeping to the far side to avoid squeaky boards, and made his way to his bedroom.

Once inside, Regulus shut the door, which dimmed the noise from outside just a little bit. Regulus wasn't sure who disliked the Lestranges staying at Grimmauld Place more, himself or his parents. It was only supposed to be for a week, of course. The house had been selected by Voldemort himself because of Orion Black's knowledge of defensive spells, and the superior protections he had placed on his home. However, Regulus knew his father had done this more to keep death eaters out, than to keep them safe inside, even if they were family.

He sat down and looked at himself in the mirror that hung above his desk. He had a couple visible bruises, nothing too serious, but he did look bad. No wonder that muggle girl had felt sorry for him. Going out into the muggle world like that, it had been nice, not something to make a habit of, but it had been nice to just be someone else and pretend like none of his problems existed for an hour or two. Regulus wondered what he had looked like to her, and considered his reflection: pale skin, prominent nose, dark eyes; the classic Black family looks. His hair, which had once been long, nearly shoulder length, he had recently cut shorter. He thought he looked like more of a grown up, and he felt like more of one too. He still wasn't as good looking as Sirius, though, Regulus had to give him that.

Regulus rubbed his face with his hands, and leaned back in his chair. He just needed a moment to catch up with it all, to take stock of everything that was happening. He almost couldn't believe it had just been a little bit over a month since he had graduated from Hogwarts. And in just a little over a month he had seen and done things most eighteen-year-olds, or people for that matter, ought to have never seen or done. Sure the dark arts had fascinated him growing up, he was pretty good at them too, and he had agreed with Voldemort's ideas, about blood purity, about how the wizarding world ought to be run, but he hadn't anticipated the scale, the destruction, the lengths Voldemort was willing to go to in order to achieve these goals, the lengths he expected his death eaters to go to. Regulus rubbed his arm, remembering the pain of when he was given the dark mark. And he thought of Sirius, his brother, older than him by one year, and, not for the first time, wished he could be a tiny bit more like him. Not entirely like him, of course, but just a tiny bit.

He remembered the day Sirius had left. There was yelling, screaming. He had packed up a bag of his things and stormed out; the rest of his room still remained exactly the way it was. And, as soon as Sirius was out the door, his mother had blasted his name off the family tree. And Regulus had watched the whole thing. He had felt betrayed by Sirius. How could he just leave?! Family was everything to Regulus. It was supposed to be everything to Sirius, too. And now, he was left alone. His parents' only son. He had to be perfect, and loyal, and meet all their expectations, or risk breaking all their hearts again. So, when he had been invited to join the Death Eaters, less than a year later, at age sixteen, and his parents had approved, he had jumped at the chance. And his parents had been proud of him.

But that was before. That was before the Death Eaters had gained a lot of power. That was before they had become so bold and violent. That was back when, in a pureblood house like his, Voldemort was a name you read in the papers, not a name you feared to say. That was before Regulus had known what it meant to be a Death Eater. And now, Regulus was willing to bet that his parents were just as scared of what was coming as he was.

* * *

Regulus lay in bed. His room was dark, but his eyes were wide open. Bellatrix and Rudolphus had finally gone to bed a few hours ago, but that hadn't helped Regulus fall asleep any. He had too many things to think about, too many things to be afraid of, to sleep. He was just going through his options for his future, when he heard a small clatter from downstairs.

Wand lit, Regulus crept silently down the staircase and through the house to the kitchen. When he saw a figure lying on the floor near a toppled pot, he gasped, "Kreacher!"

"Muhh…" Kreacher groaned.

Regulus rushed to the elf's side. He knelt and shone the light from his wand to better see Kreacher. He looked sickly and awful. Kreacher shrank away from the light at first, then slowly opened his eyes.

"Oh, Master, Kreacher was going to clean the dishes right away, sir."

"What?" Regulus said, and looked at the dirty dishes on the counter and the pot on the ground from his parents' dinner that night. "No, Kreacher, don't worry about that now. What - what happened?"

"Kreacher did as Master requested," Kreacher said. "Kreacher has been assisting the Dark Lord."

"Yes, but Kreacher, what did he _do_ to you," said Regulus, horrified.

"The Dark Lord wishes Kreacher to be dead, but Kreacher must return to his masters." Kreacher looked at Regulus. "But if Master wishes Kreacher to be dead, Kreacher will oblige."

"No! No, of course not, Kreacher." Regulus said, and nervously ran his fingers through his hair. He stood and grabbed a glass of water, put some food on a plate, and handed it to Kreacher. He was surprised when Kreacher did not protest, but snatched the glass of water and quickly drank it down. Regulus got some more water, then sat and watched the house elf eat. When Kreacher was finished he looked ashamed, but Regulus looked in his eyes, and said in his calmest voice, "Now, tell me everything."

* * *

Regulus listened to the story. When Kreacher was done, Regulus leaned against the kitchen cabinet and sighed, trying to take it all in. So that's why Voldemort had wanted Kreacher. To test defenses protecting a … _horcrux_. Regulus found it hard to even think the word. Of course he knew what one was; he had studied all kinds of dark magic in his spare time at Hogwarts, but just theory of dark magic he didn't intend to actually need to _use_ most of it. He remembered reading that Herpo the Foul had created a horcrux, and no one knew how it was destroyed. He tried to think of other details, but all he could remember was that it was one of the most awful pieces of dark magic possible, to spit your own soul and hide it somewhere so you could live forever. Regulus felt despair wash over him. If Voldemort had a horcrux that meant he was immortal. Even if he were killed his soul would live on and it would never end. Ever. Something had to be done. Voldemort had crossed a line. He had gone too far. The horcrux had to be destroyed. That way anyone going up against him would be facing a mortal man. Regulus opened his eyes wider. Did he even want Voldemort to win anymore? His heart was beating quickly and he felt unnaturally cold. He was thinking about treason. With Bellatrix and Rudolphus in the bedroom upstairs – what if they knew? He glanced around as if he expected to see their faces peeking around a corner, listening to everything. Regulus was panicking, he needed to calm down. He need a place to think where he wasn't looking over his shoulder.

Regulus brought Kreacher up the stairs to Sirius' room and shut the door. Before he left, as revenge, other than permanent sticking charms on all his things, Sirius had rigged speakers to randomly blast an announcement of Gryffindor winning the house cup. After a few days of the sudden shouting making everyone jump, Regulus' mother had completely soundproofed the room. Regulus felt a bit safer inside.

Now, what to do? Regulus knew Voldemort had made a horcrux, a locket, which he had hidden in a cave protected by all kinds of awful things: a door opened with blood, inferi, a horrible potion which had left Kreacher in such a terrible state. And Kreacher wasn't supposed to make it out alive. After testing the defenses, he had only escaped by using house elf magic. Regulus started pacing. So he was the only one who knew about the horcrux. Regulus stopped. Unless someone else knew. Someone in Voldemort's inner circle? Regulus couldn't help but glance in the direction of Regulus and Bella's room just down the hall. Could they know? Regulus figured not. He didn't think a horcrux was something Voldemort would want anyone to know about. The way he saw it, it was only really powerful if it was a secret.

So he had to get the horcrux. He had no idea when Voldemort would check his hiding spot next, but it probably wouldn't be for a while. He figured he could get in alright, with Kreacher guiding him, but getting out? He might be able to do it, but his chances were slim. The whole thing was designed to be a death trap. And what if he did escape? He didn't have the first idea how to destroy a horcrux. He looked at Kreacher, who had fallen asleep on Sirius' bed. Maybe Kreacher's house elf magic could do it? Regulus wasn't sure. And even if he did survive, it wouldn't be for long. Voldemort would find out eventually and have him killed. And then who would destroy the horcrux? He stood no chance, but something had to be done. If only he wasn't alone. But Regulus couldn't think of any friend he could trust to help him. Regulus' eyes wandered around the room to a photo on the wall of Sirius and his friends, with Hogwarts castle in the background. Maybe he could have help.

Regulus sat on the bed and started to formulate a plan b. Maybe it could work. But it would mean a big commitment and a lot of danger. And it would require a break-in almost as difficult as Voldemort's cave.

* * *

Regulus stood outside Hogwarts castle, Kreacher by his side. The house elf's apparation abilities, which were much more impresseive than expected, Regulus noted, had allowed them to get past defenses and onto the Hogwarts grounds. Getting into the castle, however, would prove a bit more difficult. He expected all sorts of magical protections, but then again, it was summer and it was just about five o'clock in the morning. The school would be empty except for a few teachers and staff who stayed all year round, but Regulus knew there was no way Dumbledore would leave it unprotected in this wartime.

Regulus slipped along the wall of the castle until he came to a window. At first he had wanted to try a secret passage into the school, but he had never used one before, only heard rumors about them, so he had decided to just make that his backup plan. The window was off of a hallway, which was empty for the moment. Regulus touched his fingers to the cool glass. It didn't feel magically protected, but he wasn't about to shoot a spell at it and find out. He guessed that an out-of-the-box method might be more effective. Regulus picked up a stone from the ground and hurled it at the window. It shattered. He smiled, glad he'd been right. Regulus had found, in his experience, that magic was often not prepared to defend itself from non-magical attacks. He climbed through the window, careful of glass shards, then helped Kreacher in. He found the stone and tossed it back outside, then took his wand and cast the charm, "Reparo." The glass flew back into the window and fixed itself, good as new.

Regulus turned to his elf and said, "Kreacher, go find a place to hide until I tell you it's safe to come out. I'll summon you if I need you. If-" Regulus paused, trying to find the right words, "If for some reason I don't come back, you must not go back to Grimmauld Place, understand?"

"Yes, Master Regulus," Kreacher said with a bow, then he disappeared. Regulus took a deep breath and headed down the dark hallway. He had a stop he needed to make.

* * *

Regulus had been to Professor Slughorn's office several times when he was in school; Slughorn had been the head of his house, after all, but finding his way in the dark had been a bit difficult. Once he had found it, he had been unable to unlock the door with magic and, after rummaging through a few cabinets, had found what he was looking for.

He left the room and turned the corner… right into the face of Argus Filch, the caretaker. Regulus froze for a moment, scared out of his wits, then turned and ran as fast as he could. He could hear Filch yelling behind him; he'd wake the entire castle before too long. Regulus ran up flights of stairs and turned corners. The longer it took, he could hear other voices shouting, looking for him too. Regulus skidded into the hallway with the entrance to the Headmaster's office on it, only to see Auror Mad-Eye Moody at the other end. Regulus was really terrified now. What was _he_ doing here?! Regulus turned and ran the other way, but he could hear Moody charging towards him. Regulus blasted the door of the next professor's office he came to and stepped inside. He saw the fireplace and reached his hand into the pot on the mantle, and threw the substance inside into the fireplace. Just as Moody entered the room, Regulus was standing in the fireplace, surrounded by green flames, shouting, "Headmaster Dumbledore's Office!" Then, he vanished.

Regulus felt the familiar sensation of traveling through the Floo Network, and almost lost his balance when he arrived in the headmaster's office so quickly. He all but tumbled out of the fireplace, and looked up, shocked and somewhat glad to see Dumbledore awake and sitting at his desk, working. Dumbledore looked shocked to see Regulus too. Before either one of them could react, however, a small group of people, mostly wearing pajamas, burst through the doors, headed by Professor McGonagall. Before Regulus could even think, the professor had disarmed him. Regulus held his hands up in surrender. At least five wands were pointed unwaveringly at him.

Everyone in the room was tense. Regulus broke the silence, using his calm voice again, saying, "I have some information that I thought you might want to know."

"Information?" said Moody, who had entered the room, incredulously. "Do you expect us to believe that?"

"It's true," said Regulus. "It's about You-Know-Who. He's done something really awful. I-"

"Oh yeah?" said one of the men who had entered with McGonagall, "Worse than the everyday murderin' routine?"

Regulus' face flushed as he realized his poor choice of words. "N-no I mean-"

"Why're we wasting time talking to him?" said the man again. "More death eaters could be invading the castle as we speak!" This caused a bit of an uproar among the wizards by the door as they exchanged worried glances with each other. Regulus interrupted them.

"Have you ever heard of a horcrux?" he said, loudly. It was easy to tell who had and who hadn't, based on their expression.

Dumbledore coughed, and the room turned to look at him. "If you don't mind, could I have a moment alone with the boy? The rest of you secure the castle." It took a moment, but slowly all the others filed out of the room. Moody was last. He seemed to be looking right through Regulus with his magical eye. It gave Regulus chills.

Regulus turned to Dumbledore. "Have a seat, Regulus," the headmaster said. Regulus walked over to the desk and stood behind an empty chair. He reached into the inside breast pocket of his jacket and pulled out a silver flask. He took a loud swig of the liquid inside, and placed the flask on the desk before sitting down. He looked Dumbledore in the eyes, confidently. Dumbledore stared back and said, "Now, what is this about?"

Regulus told him the whole story, every detail he knew. He even included some of his own speculation. Dumbledore listened in silence. When he was done, Dumbledore said, "Well, I had feared something like this might happen. But Regulus, there is one more thing: other than the word of this house elf, what can I do to verify this story? What reason can you give me to trust you?"

"Well," Regulus said, "I could tell you a million things, that it's gone too far, that I've changed my mind, but I'm not sure you'd believe me, so I prepared ahead. That-" Regulus pointed to the flask on the table, "-is veritaserum. You can check. I took it from Slughorn's office."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow and picked up the flask. "Well then. Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix."

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 **Author's Note:** Thanks for reading! Whew, that was a long chapter. If you didn't like that, don't worry they'll all be different lengths. And, trust me, this will continue to be the ridiculously happy fanfic you have come to expect. Please let me know what you think if you have the time, by leaving a review, and let me know who or what you want to see next!


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